​ As planned, the month ended with us pulling into Pocahontas State Park in preparation for a couple of months service as Park Hosts. We finished packing up the boat in Jacksonville, and after another round of goodbyes, made our way north. Along our route, we managed to meet up with a few grandkids for a couple of days of fun.

Puppet show on Ten Commandments

Making Ourselves Useful​

While our time at Faith was brief, we found our services welcome in a number of ways. World Relief and Kim’s Open Door were jointly sponsoring a 6-week summer camp for recent immigrant children that was to start the Monday after we arrived. A Youth Choir from University City UMC in Charlotte arrived on Saturday to help with the first week, and conducted Sunday’s service. We helped feed the children, including the workers every day in between some smaller projects around the campus.

Marcia Soto in the pulpit at Faith

With the torrential rain every afternoon, the water from the slab by Peeler was backing up into the newly constructed Tool room. Dave found an adjustable threshold that he installed to seal the doorway and prevent the water intrusion. Since our departure in April, Lazarus (the yellow golf cart) had stopped working, so Dave worked with Jahaziel to check the batteries (which were good). Lazarus next resurrection will have to wait for more expert hands in the fall. The internet was not working well when we arrived, so Dave did some diagnostics and found a tripped GFI by the router in the shower. He was put to work researching and ordering supplies as well. A tire swing, AC filters and an internet router, to name a few. He installed the latter as the new primary router in the office.

The 2 Sunday services had special performances by the visiting youth groups and a guest sermon by Marcia Soto, who is working on her local pastor license. Jahaziel recorded them and Dave worked with him to upload them to the church’s website. The list goes on, but you get the idea.

​ As the work to get the boat settled neared its end, we debated when to leave and head north. Although we felt useful, the withering heat and humidity were motivating us to pull out. But we found another reason to stay just a little longer. The United Brothers in Christ were having a dinner fundraiser at Faith on Saturday afternoon, and we decided we couldn’t miss it. That meant a lot of kitchen time again as we helped chop, prepare, and clean up for some of the dishes for the buffet. It was well-attended and we enjoyed some amazing food along with some uplifting music.

Cathy joins the choir for Sunday anthem

The next morning we joined the congregation for Sunday services before saying goodbye and heading up the road toward Virginia. Until November . . .

Troy and Taylor watch the geese on Lake Gaston

Retracing Our Steps​

After a “downtime” stop at a campground in Yemassee SC, we arrived at our next stop on Lake Gaston in northern NC mid-afternoon on Tuesday, the 24th, just a couple of hours before we were joined by Bonnie’s family. Troy and Taylor would be spending a couple of nights with us. The next couple of days we hiked through the park, played Old Maid, swam in the pool and the lake and played mini-golf. We were joined the 2nd afternoon by Christina, Alexis, Serenity and Cody. The cousins had a good time playing together for the first time in a long time. By Friday, we had to pull out, meeting Bonnie and Troy in South Hill to return our charges before we made our way to Pocahontas and they to NC for a visit with Cathy’s family.

Pulling into Pocahontas mid-day, we arrived just as the holiday weekend was starting to get busy. We settled in quickly and managed to say hello and goodbye to the volunteer coordinator Andi who was off for a week just after she met us. We already had a list of projects to tackle, so as the month ended, we were taking stock of them and deciding which to tackle first. Our stint at park hosts is scheduled for the months of July and August, and then again in October. It looks like we’ll be plenty busy.